The Russian government has committed to increase significantly its imports from the Philippines to more than US$2 billion from $46 million and came up with areas for potential trade and investment partnerships following the recent bilateral talks.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said President Rodrigo Duterte and Russia President Vladimir Putin agreed during the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting in Peru to strengthen economic ties between the two nations.
Lopez said Russia agreed to boost its imports from the Philippines to about $2.5 billion worth of fruits, grains, and vegetables over the next 12 months.
Russia also offered potential trade and investment partnerships in the fields of energy; machine engineering and hardware; machine modernizing and retrofitting; energy equipment; agriculture; and monorail, railway, and port infrastructure.
“We can only look up, I mean, nowhere to go but up because it’s really a relationship that offers a lot of opportunities because before, almost nothing happens when it comes to trade and investment with Russia,” the trade chief said.
Aside from economic ties, Lopez said they also agreed to forge cooperation in the areas of training and supplies for law enforcement, counterterrorism, anti-narcotics, national emergency, education, finance, and market access.
He noted that joint economic commissions will be set up to work on the details of the cooperation and follow through with it.
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